This Timeline of American poetry contains the significant events in the history of American poetry in English (and selected events in the history of American poetry in other languages), mostly original publications of books, from the beginning until 2010. English-language books of poetry (not counting anthologies) have been limited to 3 per year.
18th century[]
1772 - Philip Freneau, The American Village
1773 - Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects
1786 - Philip Freneau, Poems: Written chiefly during the late war
19th century[]
1806 - Philip Freneau, Poems
1829 - George Moses Horton, The Hope of Liberty
- Edgar Allan Poe, Al Araaf, Tamerlane, and minor poems
1837 - George Moses Horton, Poems by a Slave
1838 - John Greenleaf Whittier, Poems
1839 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Voices of the Night
1842 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poems on Slavery / Ballads, and other poems
1844 - Christopher Pearse Cranch, Poems
- James Russell Lowell, Poems
1847 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A tale of Acadie
- Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven, and other poems
1848 - James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers / The Vision of Sir Launfal
1855 - Paul Hamilton Hayne, Poems
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1st edition)
1858 - Edgar Allan Poe, Poetical Works 1860 - Henry Timrod, Poems
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (3rd edition)
- 1863 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn
1866 - Margaret Deland, The Old Garden, and other verses
- John Greenleaf Whittier, Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl
1867 - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (4th edition)
1871 - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (5th edition)
1872 - Paul Hamilton Hayne, Legends and Lyrics
- Henry Timrod, Poems (edited by (Paul Hamilton Hayne)
1876 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Selected Poems
1877 - Sidney Lanier, Poems
1881 - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (6th edition)
1882 - Paul Hamilton Hayne, Poems (complete edition)
1883 - Jones Very, Poems
1888 - David Atwood Wasson, Poems
1890 - Gertrude Hall, Verses
- John Greenleaf Whittier, At Sundown, and other poems
1891 - Emily Dickinson, Poems
1892 - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (deathbed edition)
1895 - Henry David Thoreau, Poems of Nature
20th century[]
1901-1910[]
1908 - Charles Hanson Towne, The Quiet Singer, and other poems
1909 - Theodosia Garrison, The Joy o'Life, and other poems
1911-1920[]
1913 - Charles Hanson Towne, Beyond the Stars, and other poems
1915 - Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology
1917 - Theodosia Garrison, The Dreamers, and other poems
- John Reed, Tamburlane, and other verses
1918 - Poetry Society of America sponsors Pulitzer Prize in Poetry (in 1918 and 1919)
- Sara Teasdale, Love Songs [1]
1919 - Carl Sandburg, Corn Husker [1]
- David Morton, Ships in Harbour, and other poems
- Charles Hanson, Towne, A World of Windows, and other poems
- Margaret Widdemer, Old Road to Paradise [1]
1921-1930[]
1922 - annual Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1st awarded
- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
- Edwin Arlington Robinson, Collected Poems [1]
1923 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver / A Few Figs from Thistles [1]
1924 - Robert Frost, New Hampshire [1]
1925 - Countee Cullen, Colour
- Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Man Who Died Twice [1]
1926 - Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues
- Amy Lowell, What's O'Clock [1]
1927 - Leonora Speyer, Fiddler's Farewell [1]
1928 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, Tristram [1]
1929 - Stephen Vincent Benét, John Brown's Body [1]
1930 - Conrad Aiken, Selected Poems [1]
1931-1940[]
1931 - Robert Frost, Collected Poems [1]
1932 - George Dillon, The Flowering Stone [1]
1933 - Robert Hillyer, Collected Verse [1]
1934 - Archibald MacLeish, Conquistador [1]
1935 - Audrey Wurdmann, Bright Ambush [1]
1936 - Robert P.T. Coffin, Strange Holiness [1]
1937 - Robert Frost, A Further Range [1]
1938 - Marya Zaturenska, Cold Morning Sky [1]
1939 - John Gould Fletcher, Selected Poems [1]
1940 - Mark Van Doren, Collected Poems [1]
1941-1950[]
1941 - Leonard Bacon, Sunderland Capture [1]
1942 - William Rose Benét, The Dust Which is God [1]
1943 - Robert Frost, A Witness Tree [1]
1944 - Stephen Vincent Benét, Western Star [1]
1945 - Karl Shapiro, V-Letter, and other poems [1]
- Charles Hanson Towne, Testament of Love: A sonnet sequence
1947 - Robert Lowell, Lord Weary's Castle [1]
1948 - W.H. Auden, The Age of Anziety [1]
- Ezra Pound, The Pisan Cantos
1949 - Peter Viereck, Terror and Decorum [1]
1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie Allen [1]
- William Carlos Williams, Paterson: Book III / Selected Poems[2]
1951-1960[]
1951 - Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems [1]
- Wallace Stevens, Auroras of Autumn [2]
1952 - Marianne Moore, Collected Poems [1] [2]
1953 - Archibald MacLeish, Collected Poems, 1917-1952 [1] [2]
1954 - Conrad Aiken, Collected Poems [2]
- Theodore Roethke, The Waking [1]
1955 - Jack Kerouac, Mexico City Blues
- Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems [2]
1956 - Elizabeth Bishop, Poems North and South / A Cold Spring [1]
- Allen Ginsberg, Howl, and other poems
1957 - Richard Wilbur, Things of This World [1] [2]
1958 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind
- Robert Penn Warren. Promises: Poems, 1954-1956 [1] [2]
1959 - Stanley Kunitz, Selected Poems, 1928-1958 [1]
- Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind [2]
- Delmore Schwartz, Summer Knowledge: New and selected poems
1960 - Weldon Kees, Collected Poems
- Robert Lowell, Life Studies [2]
- W.D. Snodgrass, Heart's Needle [1]
1961-1970[]
1961 - Randall Jarrell, The Woman at the Washington Zoo [2]
- Phyllis McGinley, Times Three: Selected poetry from three decades [1]
- Yvor Winters, Collected Poems
1962 - Alan Dugan, Poems [1] [2]
1963 - Arna Bontemps, Personals
- William Stafford, Travelling through the Dark [2]
- William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Brueghel [1]
1964 - John Crowe Ransom, Selected Poems [2]
- Louis Simpson, At the End of the Open Road [1]
1965 - John Berryman, 77 Dream Songs [1]
- Theodore Roethke, The Far Field [2]
1966 - James Dickey, Buckdancer's Choice [2]
- Richard Eberhart, Selected Poems [1]
1967 - Rod McKuen, Listen to the Warm
- James Merrill, Nights and Days [2]
- Anne Sexton, Live or Die [1]
1968 - Robert Bly, The Light around the Body [2]
- Anthony Hecht, The Hard Hours [1]
- Rod McKuen, Lonesome Cities
1969 - John Berryman, His Toy, His Dream, His Rest [2]
- George Oppen, Of Being Numerous [1]
1970 - Elizabeth Bishop, Complete Poems [2]
- Richard Howard, Untitled Subjects [1]
1971-1980[]
1971 - W.S. Merwin, The Carrier of Ladders [1]
- Mona Van Duyn, To See, to Take [2]
1972 - Howard Moss, Selected Poems [2]
- Frank O'Hara, Collected Poems [2]
- James Wright, Collected Poems [1]
1973 - A.R. Ammons, Collected Poems, 1951-1971 [2]
- Maxine Kumin, Up Country [1]
1974 - Allen Ginsberg, The Fall of America: Poems of these states, 1965-1971 [2]
- Robert Lowell, The Dolphin [1]
- Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972 [2]
1975 - Marilyn Hacker, Presentation Piece [2]
- Gary Snyder, Turtle Island [1]
1976 - John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror [1] [2]
1977 - Richard Eberhart, Collected Poems, 1930-1976 [2]
- James Merrill, Divine Comedies [1]
- Frank Stanford, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You
1978 - Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems [1] [2]</ br> 1979 - Robert Penn Warren, Now and Then [1]
- James Merrrill, Mirabell: Books of Number [2]
1980 - Donald Justice, Selected Poems [1]
- Philip Levine, Ashes [2]
1981-1990[]
1981 - Carolyn Forché, The Country between Us
- Lisel Mueller, The Need to Hold Still [2]
- James Schuyler, The Morning of the Poem [1]
1982 - William Bronk, Life Supports: New and selected poems [2]
- Sylvia Plath, Collected Poems [1]
1983 - Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems, 1927-1979
- Galway Kinnell, Selected Poems [1] [2]
- Charles Wright, Country Music: Selected early poems [2]
1984 - Mary Oliver, American Primitive [1]
1985 - Carolyn Kizer, Yin [1]
1986 - Henry Taylor, The Flying Change [1]
1987 - Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah [1]
- Charles Olson, Collected Poems
1988 - William Meredith, Partial Accounts: New and selected poems [1]
1989 - Richard Wilbur, New and Collected Poems [1]
1990 - Charles Simic, The World Doesn't End [1]
1991-2000[]
1991 - Philip Levine, What Work Is [2]
- Mona Van Duyn, Near Changes [1]
1992 - James Tate, Selected Poems [1]
1993 - A.R. Ammons, Garbage [2]
- Jim Carroll, Fear of Dreaming: Selected poems
- Louise Glück, The Wild Iris [1]
1994 - Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and selected poems [1]
- Heather McHugh, Hinge and Sign: Poems, 1968-1993.
- James Tate, A Worshipful Company of Fletchers [2]
1995 - Stanley Kunitz, Passing Through: The later poems, new and selected [2]
- Philip Levine, The Simple Truth [1]
1996 - Hayden Carruth, Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey: Poems, 1991-1995 [2]
- Jorie Graham, The Dream of the Unified Field [1]
1997 - William Meredith, Effort at Speech: New and selected poems [2]
- Lisel Mueller, Alive Together: New and selected poems [1]
1998 - Gerald Stern, This Time: New and selected poems [2]
- Charles Wright, Black Zodiac [1]
1999 - Philip Booth, Lifelines: Selected poems, 1950-1999
- Mark Strand, Blizzard of One [1]
2000 - C.K. Williams, Repair [1]
21st century[]
2001-2010[]
2001 - Stephen Dunn, Different Hours [1]
2002 - Carl Dennis, Practical Gods [1]
2003 - Poetry 180: A turning back to poetry (edited by Billy Collins)
- William Heyen, Shoa Train
- Paul Muldoon, Moy Sand and Gravel [1]
2004 - Franz Wright, Walking to Martha's Vineyard [1]
2005 - Ted Kooser, Flying at Night: Poems, 1965-1985
- - Gregory Orr, Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved
2006 - Claudia Emerson, Late Wife [1]
2007 - Natasha Trethewey, Native Guard [1]
2008 - Robert Hass, Time and Materials [1]
- Philip Schultz, Failure [1]
2009 - W.S. Merwin, The Shadow of Sirius [1]
2010 - Rae Armantrout, Versed [1]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.50 1.51 1.52 1.53 1.54 1.55 1.56 1.57 1.58 1.59 1.60 1.61 1.62 1.63 1.64 1.65 1.66 1.67 1.68 1.69 1.70 1.71 1.72 1.73 1.74 1.75 1.76 1.77 1.78 1.79 1.80 1.81 1.82 1.83 1.84 1.85 1.86 1.87 1.88 1.89 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry winner. Poetry, the Pulitzer Prizes. Web, June 4, 2018.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.35 2.36 2.37 2.38 2.39 2.40 2.41 2.42 National Book Award winner for poetry. Source: "The National Book Awards: Winners and finalists since 1950, National Book Foundation. Web, Aug. 24, 2018.